a_florida_man said:TurnerX19 said:If you have any plans to drive this car in the summer I would seriously try to keep the heater loop within the engine compartment.
Loop it behind the firewall, just keep the valve on the head connection closed. Same thing.
Don't I want that valve open to get coolant to the back of the head?
AxeHealey said:a_florida_man said:TurnerX19 said:If you have any plans to drive this car in the summer I would seriously try to keep the heater loop within the engine compartment.
Loop it behind the firewall, just keep the valve on the head connection closed. Same thing.
Don't I want that valve open to get coolant to the back of the head?
Nope.
On cars without a heater, the valve is already installed and is reference as the head coolant tap.
It is meant to be normally closed, with no hose on it, if no heater is installed.
It's primary purpose is to allow you to drain the head to change the coolant. (same as with the block tap)
It is also referenced under Section C.8 - Frost Precautions.
If you have a freeze concern and no or too little anti freeze, you are to open these two taps and drain the water.
By design, the head flows from the block, the entire length, to the thermostat with no problem.
The thermostat also has a built in bypass.
Also note, that if you had a heater core, it would have had an on/off valve controlled by a cable attached to it, that would be the effective equivalent.
Sorry for the blurry picture.
I'll post some workshop manual pics in a bit.
Read C7 and C8 for the purpose of the head and block taps.
Note too the updated t'stat recommendation.
A florida man is correct, you do not need flow through the heater circuit on any big Healey. You can plug the spigot on the lower hose in the front and eliminate the copper tube too.
Heater Kit install instructions, FYI.
It mentions use of the existing cylinder head tap.
Note too, that all numbered parts were new with the kit. Including the special molded lower radiator hose.
Thanks fellas, very informative.
I had a meeting this morning, then needed to grab some food. By the time I had spent about an hour at the shop, I get a slightly frantic call from my wife saying she needed me home. One of the pups had sliced a toe open. Pretty much my entire afternoon was spent waiting around at the doggie ER. At least this was there...
She was drrrruuuunnnnkkkkk
Spent a large chunk of the day working on the Healey. Accomplished a lot of little things but no big leaps. Carbs and heat shield on, throttle linkage hooked up, downpipes on, fuel line hooked up, new e-brake cable in, gas tank coated and I started to locate the seat belts.
No pics because I realized I was going to be late for my parent's anniversary dinner.
Last night I spent some time on the phone with a good buddy that happens to be a Healey master about making sure I was getting the whole negative ground thing re-done correctly. Just like everything else on this car, it seems to have been half-assed by the last feller. I think I'm in good shape but want to check to ensure that the fuel pump is correct.
So. Wiring is all hooked up aside from lights and horns. I need to go over it all again with my notes and a diagram. Seatbelts are located, driver's side mounted. Trans tunnel back in, driver's seat in, new wheels and tires on. If this damn gas tank ever cures maybe I will actually start it this weekend... Anyone have experience with how long Red Kote takes to cure?
The seats are really bumming me out and probably won't last long in the car but they'll have to do for now.
Had time only for a quick visit with the Healey last night as I had to get on the road early for meetings in Indiana today. I made the executive decision to mount the seats directly to the floor. Reasons:
I left the shop last night with both seats in along with seatbelts and carpet.
Tonight when I get back home I'm going to rush to get the body from my house to the shop. There's supposed to be a rain/snow mix tomorrow and lake effect on Friday. If that actually happens, I'm not taking the truck out and it would but a big delay on things.
Elmore didn't want to start last night. It cranked enough that I needed to jump it with my wife's car. Anyone have ideas of how to keep gas up at the carb? Maybe my pump is bad but once it's running there's enough suction to draw fuel?
Anyway, I got all of the body panels unloaded and into the shop. It's not the ideal situation but better than having to take the truck out in the snow and salt to get them over there.
The other day a friend casually wiggled the fuel filter on Elmore resulting in fuel running on to the intake manifold. No wiggling - no leak. I replaced that line last night just in case but I'm pretty sure the clamps were just way too loose.
Not being aware of the cars name, I assume the issue is the Healey and not the truck?
The last healey I worked on had two fuel issues.
The pump would not push fuel if the car has been sitting too long. No idea why, but the outlet to the pump had to be disconnected and once fuel started to flow, it worked fine.
The other issue was more troublesome. The car started but did not run well. The problem was a new needle/seat assembly in the float. It would stick in the closed position.
The way I finally figured this out was to remove the vacuum chamber on the carbs ( the "bell") and with the pump running, I used a piece of small diameter ( aquarium tube) to blow small puff of air aimed directly at the entrance to the jet. The goal is to get the fuel to bounce back down the jet and then bob back up. If the float level is set right, the fue will just trickle back over the top of the bridge. It IS a subjective test, but it wont take long to get the gist. This is a great way to see if your fuel system is delivering fuel to the throats.
In the case of the stuck float, there was no fuel to bob back so after several well pronounced WTFs? I went looking further upstream. Imagine how frustrating this can be since the act of removing the float bowl lid will dislodge the stuck float every time! You need to manually open and close the needle to find the issue.
I believe the issue is that the needle tip is meant to be Viton, but being made in China ( these were Burlen branded parts) I suspect that cheaper rubber has been substituted. I have had this exact same issue on three SU carbs so far and all were found using this method. It has become my GO TO method to decide if the fuel level is correct and the first thing I do when tunning an SU after I give the throttle shafts a wiggle to see how worn they are.
Pete
Elmore is the truck
Patrick said:Elmore is the truck
Thanks Pete but yeah, Elmore is the truck.
Not a ton of time to dedicate to the Healey this weekend but movement was forward. After literally 40 minutes of screwing around, I finally got the new shifter spring in place.
And then the shift boot installed. Yes, this is the old one but as it turns out, the shift boot for a BT7 (the rubber kit I bought because that's the body of the car), is different than that for a BJ8 (which the engine, trans and tunnel is out of). Neither my dad nor I can find the nice wood shift knob that was on the car... I'm pretty sure he's got it.
Not documented in pictures is the couple hours I spent double and triple checking the wiring. Once I throw in a new fuse, it should be time to strap a battery to it and see if it burns down.
In other news...
In reply to AxeHealey :
That looks familiar
Please put a low amp fuse in line with your battery cable when firing up the new harness for the first time. It will alert you to any catastrophic shorts that might exist. 7 amps will let you check most circuits and not damage the wires if there is a dead short. You can still check high current items like the horn and lights with a voltmeter this way or a test light to make sure they are working.
Pete
In reply to TurnerX19 :
Too bad the cherry little thing is getting snow dumped on it. Probably the first time it's seen the white stuff... 
Pete - Between the battery and ground OK or does it need to be on the positive side?
Daughter duty tonight so once she was down, got a little project done. Hopefully the new hose is large enough.
In reply to AxeHealey :
In series with what ever polarity is "hot" on your car. So if positive ground, it would clip on to the negative battery post on one end of the fuse and the negative battery terminal clamp on the other end of the fuse. Make sense?
Yep. Negative ground so on the positive side.
In reply to AxeHealey :
What have you done to convert from positive ground? Just checking.
In reply to keithedwards :
It was converted to negative ground before our ownership although I've realized the coil was plugged in backwards. I guess that means it just wasn't as efficient as it could be. There's a great writeup HERE on how to do it. I may flash the generator just to be extra sure. I also walked through how I have everything hooked up with a good Healey friend that runs a shop down in St. Pete.
I had to attend an SCCA meeting last night but was able to shoot to the Healey after for a couple hours. No pics. New breather hoses in, heater loop in, radiator in (need to tighten one hose clamp), 7 quarts of oil along with a new filter and I also finally figured out how the hood release mechanism goes together. Question about the new oil filter though. It's just felt on both ends, no rubber washers integrated like the ones I've used in the past. Am I going to run into issues with this?
You will not have trouble with the filter. On the generator, I have found it good practice to re-polarize (flash) them after any occasion they have been removed from a car. Somehow they occasionally change in storage, I think its related to the earth's magnetic field, and I know I am not the only one to have experienced it.
Check. I will definitely flash it again.
Last night was another one with my daughter which another one with a tiny project at home. Cleaned up the hood release mechanism about as nice as something that will be nasty 2 minutes after installing it needs to be.
Short story.
Long story.
Longer story. I went over to the shop yesterday around 11:30 and proceeded to berkeley around with the Miata because, well, I guess I was nervous. I put taillights and the driver's side headlight cover on. Then I finally got myself wrangled in and working on the Healey. Tighten lower radiator hose. Check. Fill will coolant. Check. Realize I didn't buy enough and ask my dad to grab some on his way over. Check. Tape off all non-used electrical connections (heater and wiper circuits). Check. Put gas tank in. Check. Plop battery in trunk. Check (ok enough of the list). I hooked up the battery as Pete suggested and no blowy-burney things happened. YAY! Remove in-line fuse and still no burney. I then poured about 2.5 gallons into the tank and proceeded to try to prime the system. I took a cheap electric pump and hooked it to the line at the carbs, grabbed the battery from the Miata and let her eat. I did this for about 2-3 minutes without any fuel getting to the carbs. It then occurred to me that when I turned the key on earlier, I didn't hear the trusty clickety clacking from the SU fuel pump... Hm. Pulled off the LR wheel and what do I see, moist connections at the fuel pump! So at least I got it primed. Oh! I had forgotten a ground for the fuel pump. 
I also obviously tightened the connections.
At this point, my dad had arrived and we figured it was time to give it a shot. I disconnected the coil so that it wouldn't fire - I wanted to crank it to at least try to get some oil moved around, if not pressure built. The battery I pulled from Elmore died. Off to the parts store for a brand new one. Crank it some more and decide it's time. Cranking nicely, fuel at the carbs. No spark. I take a look at the points. Yuck. Nasty. Replace the points and condenser (to be safe). No. Freaking spark. Test for 12V at coil. Yep. per-berkeleying-plexed. Grab a good coil. No spark.
We have family dinner's at my parent's house so my dad heads out. I'm hopping in the Miata to fill it up and I get a return call from my Healey buddy in FL. We go through about 8 min of troubleshooting in which he is confused as well. Finally he says, take a look at where your condenser and coil wire are plugged into the points. What's the order. Isolator, points, isolator, condenser and coil. BINGO. Dummy. The condenser and coil wire need to be in contact with the points.
Switched it around, got off the phone and took that first video at the top of this post. HELL YEAH. The second video is after a couple minutes of running but clearly it wasn't up to temp yet. I let it run until it was warmed and it smoothed out real nice, even with the open downpipes.
Pumped.
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